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Development

So, you want to hack on GraphQL Ruby! Here are some tips for getting started.

Setup

Get your own copy of graphql-ruby by forking rmosolgo/graphql-ruby on GitHub and cloning your fork.

Then, install the dependencies:

Running the Tests

Unit tests

You can run the tests with

bundle exec rake        # tests & Rubocop
bundle exec rake test   # tests only

You can run a specific file with TEST=:

bundle exec rake test TEST=spec/graphql/query_spec.rb
# run tests in `query_spec.rb` only

Alternatively, you can run a specific file with the m gem:

m spec/graphql/query_spec.rb
# run tests in `query_spec.rb` only

You can focus on a specific example with focus:

focus
it "does something cool" do
  # ...
end

Then, only focused tests will run:

bundle exec rake test
# only the focused test will be run

(This is provided by minitest-focus.)

You can watch files with guard:

bundle exec guard

When a file in lib/ is modified, guard will run the corresponding file in spec. Guard also respects # test_via: comments, so it will run that test when the file changes (if there is no corresponding file by name).

Integration tests

You need to pick a specific gemfile from gemfiles/ to run integration tests. For example:

BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/rails_5.1.gemfile bundle install
BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/rails_5.1.gemfile bundle exec rake test TEST=spec/integration/rails/graphql/relay/array_connection_spec.rb

Other tests

There are system tests for checking ActionCable behavior, use:

bundle exec rake test:system

And JavaScript tests:

bundle exec rake test:js

Gemfiles, Gemfiles, Gemfiles

graphql-ruby has several gemfiles to ensure support for various Rails versions.

You can run all gemfiles with

appraisal rake

You can specify a gemfile with BUNDLE_GEMFILE, eg:

BUNDLE_GEMFILE=gemfiles/rails_5.gemfile bundle exec rake

Debugging with Pry

pry is included with GraphQL-Ruby’s development setup to help with debugging.

To pause execution in Ruby code, add:

binding.pry

Then, the program will pause and your terminal will become a Ruby REPL. Feel free to use pry in your development process!

Running the Benchmarks

This project includes some Rake tasks to record benchmarks:

$ bundle exec rake -T | grep bench:
rake bench:profile         # Generate a profile of the introspection query
rake bench:query           # Benchmark the introspection query
rake bench:validate        # Benchmark validation of several queries

You can save results by sending the output into a file:

$ bundle exec rake bench:validate > before.txt
$ cat before.txt
# ...
# --> benchmark output here

If you want to check performance, create a baseline by running these tasks before your changes. Then, make your changes and run the tasks again and compare your results.

Keep these points in mind when using benchmarks:

Coding Guidelines

GraphQL-Ruby uses a thorough test suite to make sure things work reliably day-after-day. Please include tests that describe your changes, for example:

Don’t fret about coding style or organization. There’s a minimal Rubocop config in .rubocop.yml which runs during CI. You can run it manually with bundle exec rake rubocop.

Lexer and Parser

The lexer and parser use a multistep build process:

To update the lexer or parser, you should update their corresponding definitions (lexer.rl or parser.y). Then, you can run bundle exec rake build_parser to re-generate the .rb files.

You will need Ragel to build the lexer (see above).

If you start guard (bundle exec guard), the .rb files will be rebuilt whenever the definition files are modified.

Website

To update the website, update the .md files in guides/.

To preview your changes, you can serve the website locally:

bundle exec rake site:serve

Then visit http://localhost:4000.

To publish the website with GitHub pages, run the Rake task:

bundle exec rake site:publish

Search Index

GraphQL-Ruby’s search index is powered by Algolia. To update the index, you need the API key in an environment variable:

$ export ALGOLIA_API_KEY=...

Without this key, the search index will fall out-of-sync with the website. Contact @rmosolgo to gain access to this key.

API Docs

The GraphQL-Ruby website has its own rendered version of the gem’s API docs. They’re pushed to GitHub pages with a special process.

First, generate local copies of the docs you want to publish:

$ bundle exec rake apidocs:gen_version[1.8.0] # for example, generate docs that you want to publish

Then, check them out locally:

$ bundle exec rake site:serve
# then visit http://localhost:4000/api-doc/1.8.0/

Then, publish them as part of the whole site:

$ bundle exec rake site:publish

Finally, check your work by visiting the docs on the website.

Versioning

GraphQL-Ruby does not attempt to deliver “semantic versioning” for the reasons described in jashkenas’ s post, “Why Semantic Versioning Isn’t”. Instead, the following scheme is used as a guideline:

This policy is inspired by the Ruby 2.1.0+ version policy.

Pull requests and issues may be tagged with a GitHub milestone to denote when they’ll be released.

The changelog should always contain accurate and thorough information so that users can upgrade. If you have trouble upgrading based on the changelog, please open an issue on GitHub.

Releasing

GraphQL-Ruby doesn’t have a strict release schedule. If you think it should, consider opening an issue to share your thoughts.

To cut a release:

Suggestion, improvement, or correction? Edit this file or report an issue.